In brief: Mall reopens in Kenya where 67 died in attack
NAIROBI, Kenya – Hundreds of shoppers Saturday thronged through the reopened Westgate Shopping Mall in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, nearly two years after an extremist attack there left at least 67 people dead.
Nairobi Gov. Evans Kidero cut a ribbon during the ceremony, which came after two years of repairs from the damage caused by security forces battling four gunmen from Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group in September 2013.
The attack on the upscale shopping center shocked the nation and led to a four-day siege by security forces, which destroyed part of the roof when the army fired rocket-propelled grenades to dislodge the attackers.
“We could have been hurt but our spirits have not been broken. It is a demonstration of the determination and the positivity and the resilience and the indomitable spirit of the Kenyan people,” said Kidero.
China reports deportations
BEIJING – China has deported 20 foreigners from Britain, South Africa and India for watching video clips that advocated terrorism and religious extremism, the official state media reported.
Xinhua News Agency said late Saturday that the foreigners watched an unspecified documentary in a hotel room and later some of them watched video clips that advocated terrorism. Police also found similar clips on a cellphone belonging to one of the South Africans, Xinhua said.
Xinhua cited the foreign affairs office of Ordos city in China’s Inner Mongolia region, where police had stopped the 10 South Africans, nine Britons and one Indian on July 10 as they were going to fly to their next stop on a 47-day tour of the country.
The news agency said five South Africans, three Britons and one Indian national were detained the following day.
It said the nine “admitted to their illegal acts and repented,” without elaborating. It said police treated the case leniently and deported them on Saturday.
The other 11 were deported Wednesday.
Cosby paid after sex, report says
NEW YORK – Bill Cosby says he paid women after having sex with them and went to great lengths to hide his behavior and the payments from his wife.
The New York Times reported the revelations Saturday after obtaining a copy of a transcript from a deposition Cosby gave a decade ago.
The 78-year-old comedian was testifying under oath in a lawsuit by a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, who says he molested her.
He said he offered to pay for Constand’s education and had paid other women after they had sex with him.
He also admited he funneled money to some of the women through his agent so his wife wouldn’t find out.
During the questioning, he said he was a good reader of women and called Constand a liar.
Five found dead in home
MODESTO, Calif. – Five people were found dead in a California home after someone called authorities to check on the people inside, police said Saturday.
Officers responding to a request to conduct a welfare check on the home, in a residential neighborhood in Modesto, discovered the bodies in the afternoon, police spokeswoman Heather Graves said.